Last year we provided a look into what we use every day, and things can change lot in 375 days. While some of my setup has remained the same, a lot has changed. I'm now using Android and iOS, all my desktop machines are hackintoshes, and I've adopted a few new apps and learned a few new tricks. Here's a look at what's changed and what's stayed the same.

Building a hackintosh—that is, installing Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware—used to require extremely…
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Hardware

Desktops & Laptops

There's no question I have an excess of computers around the house, but in an effort to reduce the number of things I own I've downsized a bit since last year. Now I operate with a laptop, a desktop, and a media center (which also doubles as a video encoding machine when needed).

Laptop: MacBook Air 11"

Last year I was working on a 13" MacBook Air, but I liked the idea of a more portable machine. I was concerned about the battery life, but after performing a very scientific comparison between the two models I found out there really wasn't a realistic difference. I decided to switch and haven't looked back since. Having a laptop that fits in just about any bag is pretty great, and with a Core i7 processor it's powerful enough to handle pretty much whatever I throw at it. The only thing I really miss is the SD card slot, but this SD card that converts into a USB drive pretty much solved the problem. (Please make bigger and faster cards like this, SanDisk!)

Desktop: Hack Pro

After building a "Hack Mini" for my media center (details below), I loved it so much that I decided to replace my other desktop with a Hack Pro based on this tonymacx86 build. After building both machines and selling my Apple-made computers, I ended up with a surplus of $600 and the fastest hardware I've ever owned. Although hackintoshing has its ups and downs, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I only had a little experience in building computers so (my fellow writer) Whitson volunteered to help me out. Since then, he's written a computer building guide so you can get his help, too. Building a machine is really fun, and now that the hackintoshing process is so simple it's hard to justify buying a real Mac desktop. (Unfortunately, it's generally not worth the trouble with laptops.) Despite being the fastest machine of the bunch, it probably gets the least use. Sometimes I use it for Lifehacker work, but generally the MacBook Air is fast enough. When it comes to creating music or working on complex video projects, however, this is the only computer that can handle the job.

Dear Lifehacker, I have a Sorny Inspironbookmate 2564300iP00. Can I make Hackintosh? But seriously, …
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Server and Media Center: Hack Mini

My file server and media center—which I often use as a secondary machine for handling CPU-intensive tasks as well—was the first hackintosh I ever built. If you want to build the exact same machine, you can find the build and instructions (with video) here. You may, however, prefer something more up to date. We always offer a cheap sample build in our always up-to-date hackintosh guide, and it's likely a better alternative at this point. While this machine's main purpose is to run SABnzbd+, Sickbeard, and process the audio from other devices like my Xbox 360 and Wii, it's also used for work. Aside from offloading tasks, when the LA-based Lifehacker team is at my place for a collaborative work day, we often use this machine to look at one central screen. It's hooked up to an old Optoma 720p projector so it's easy for everyone to see, plus it can be controlled from my laptop and a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse so it's easy for multiple people to use. This machine now handles so many various tasks that I upgraded it with a Core i5 processor. It's really fast, and is always working on something—even when I'm not explicitly using it.

Mac OS X: If you're in need of a simple way to monitor audio inputs on your Mac, Apple's…
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Accessories

I keep my accessories excessively organized with a Grid-It, which is GRID-IT. In fact, I now use two. One GRID-IT holds my tech accessories and another handles my old-fashioned drawing tools (which are extra helpful lately, now that I'm trying to illustrate more of our Lifehacker posts). Here's what I keep on the tech-centric GRID-IT, plus a few other things that sit around in my backpack:

I add and subtract items as needed, but generally this is the full accessories list.

Phones, Tablets, and Other Mobile Devices

My laptop is my mobile device because it's pretty much tiny enough to take anywhere, but my iPhone 4 is a good supplement. Although normally I use this free upgrade process to get a new iPhone every year, I just didn't want to bother going through the trouble for a better camera and Siri. I've decided to stick with the easier-to-jailbreak iPhone 4 for now, hoping the 5 offers a little more.

Upgrading to the newest iPhone hardware means shelling out $200-$400 on contract. If you want to…
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The tablet situation is still something I haven't figured out. I was very excited about the iPad when it was first released and it didn't take more than a few hours to get bored with the device. Since then I've moved to Android, on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, for a lighter and smaller form factor. My mains reason for going Android was to turn the tablet into a retro game arcade. While the iPhone's capable of this as well, the emulators on Android are generally superior and, using an app called Sixaxis Controller (which requires root access), you can sync a PS3 controller for better gameplay. Additionally, it can play pretty much any video file and Google Music is great. That said, I've yet to find anything else it does better than the iPad and the app selection isn't nearly as good. Most Android tablet apps are just up-sized phone apps that don't work perfectly. Android is also slower, clunkier, and worse when it comes to battery life. Both platforms have their pros and cons. I just wish the two would merge. Right now, I'm not sold on either but I'm hoping that Google—or an Android manufacturer—will hire the people who created the MIUI ROM. That would be a step in the right direction.

If you've become a bit bored with the way Android looks and works, MIUI is a completely…
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Media Equipment

I've left my media equipment virtually unchanged over the last year because each item has been a solid investment since the day I got it. The Canon 5D Mark II is still my favorite DSLR and I have yet to see anything quite as good. Canon also recently cut the price making it a little more affordable. That camera is supplemented by the Sony a NEX-5, which is responsible for taking all the photos in this post. While there are newer models in the NEX line, I still think the NEX-5 is a great deal. If you're looking for a compact camera with interchangeable lenses and a DSLR-sized sensor, this is the camera to get. Newer models are very reasonable priced and offer a few spec upgrades that may be worthwhile to some, but you can pick up the older models for far less—especially when buying used—and get a phenomenal deal on the best line of compact cameras I've ever used. When recording the Lifehacker Show, we've used both of these cameras. In the episodes starting this year, we've relied solely on the NEX-5 for its longer recording time.

Apps

I keep a very simple, very tidy desktop thanks to my Dropbox organization system and an icon set I created. That doesn't stop me from running far too many apps and opening an excessive number of browser tabs, but fortunately I have tools that help me manage it all.

Webapps and Browser Extensions

Although I feel as though Chrome has lost some of its stability and reliability on the Mac over the last year, and Firefox has only gotten better, when I tried to switch I ended up coming back to Chrome after a few weeks. No browser is perfect, but I love Chrome's features, extensions and interface. Speaking of extensions, here are some of my favorites:

Amazon Wishlist, because it takes up less space as an icon than a bookmarklet in my bookmarks bar

Sickbeard and SABnzbd+ are the two locally-run web apps that make my media center run beautifully (along with Plex, of course)

It's a short list, but I almost always prefer desktop apps that integrate with web services to the ones that are solely online. Maybe someday that'll change, but for now I like knowing things will work as expected when I'm disconnected.

Mobile Apps

I have a lot of these, but here are the best:

Downcast, the alternative podcast manager that is my favorite find of 2011.

It took a good while before iOS 5 received its first jailbreak, but now that you've jailbroken …
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Tips & Tricks Closest To My Heart

We integrate so many tips and tricks into our daily lives that it can be pretty hard to choose favorites, but a few definitely stand out. Here are the four I've found most useful over the past year.

Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret
This tip, also known as "don't break the chain," has turned me into a productivity powerhouse over the past two months. I'll be writing about the experience in more detail in the coming weeks, but for now I have to say it's one of the greatest changes I've ever made. Taking on everything I want to do in small pieces every day and keeping track on a simple calendar was a perfect fit for my semi-neurotic personality and many interests that previously felt neglected.